Tuesday, November 21, 2006

So, when I started this, there were dichotomous responses to my decision that Nuvy would have a weaning table instead of a high chair at home.

Column "A" included those who asked probing questions, such as "How is that going to affect your family mealtimes?" or, "How are you going to keep her sitting at the table?" or perhaps, "Isn't that going to be kind of hard?" To these, I responded confidently that I saw these kids in an infant program using the weaning table and they were all quite successful and I was sure we would be quite successful, too.

Column "B" included those who looked, blinked slowly, smiled knowingly, and said something like, "Oh, how interesting. Let me know how that works out for you." To these I say I'd like to order a good single malt, neat, to wash down my crow.

Yes, neighbors, we have had some challenges with the weaning table. Nuvy does come to the table when I put food on it, but she WILL NOT stay seated there. A typical meal goes like this:

-I say, "Lunch is ready! Come to the table, Nuvy!"

-Nuvy comes barrelling across the room saying "MMM! MMM!" and slapping her little hands along the floor the whole way.

-Nuvy sits down and digs in.

-Nuvy has one bite of whatever she's having--two if she's very hungry--then gets up from the table and takes off.

-She looks behind her. I'm still sitting at the table.

-She comes back. "MMM! MMM!"

-She stands up beside the table and takes a few carrots off her plate.

-I say, "We sit down to eat, Nuvy." and guide her over to her chair to sit, but if she sits on the floor next to the table, I pull the table in front of her and consider this good enough.

-She takes another bite, maybe two, then throws the plate onto the floor and takes off.

-I clean up the table and race her to reach the pieces on the floor. End of meal.

I am grateful to both my mother and my mother-in-law for never, EVER suggesting to me that I just get a high chair like other people do. They have both been respectfully, supportively silent on the matter.

So, I bought a high chair. It's a lovely high chair. Now we can all sit together at the table, and Nuvy can enjoy family meals like the rest of us. And I can put her in the chair, and I can take her out. She's fine with this in restaurants. In fact, she seems to love sitting at the table with everyone. She does not squirm or cry to get out. She seems quite happy, and I take her out immediately if she isn't.

But it still bothers me.

So, as luck would have it, IMMEDIATELY after I bought the lovely high chair that grows into a teenager's desk chair looks great with the dining room furniture, here is what Nuvy did.

Dinner time came around, I went to the kitchen to prepare her food. She crawled over to the table, sat down in the little chair, put both her hands on the table and said "YUM! YUM! YUM!". Then proceeded to eat an entire plate of spinach with raisins, green peas, sweet potato, about 15 cheerios, and half a pint of blueberries. Then she drank a glass of water, pushed the chair back from the table, and crawled off to the living room to play.